Tourists huddle in shelters as they
wait for Hurricane Emily to arrive.

Hurricane Emily

We know you've all been anxiously awaiting news out of Cancun about how it was affected by Hurricane Emily.  It's been hard to get news out, as I'm sure you might imagine - with widespread power outages, and structural damage, it was nearly impossible to conduct business for a few days.  With 135 mile-per-hour winds and torrential rains, Emily was felt around the region.

Cancun was relatively intact after Emily - the brunt of it hit right at Puerto Aventuras, about an hour south.  Puerto Aventuras is in bad shape, but the rest of the peninsula is coming along.  Cancun is open for business, and all the tours are running, with the exception of the parks.  Xcaret will remain closed until probably next week, Xel-Ha is set to re-open on July 23rd. Chankanaab Park on Cozumel was hit hard, and may be a month before it's fully restored.  The ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum are doing well.

There is damage to some of the hotels along the Riviera Maya, so if you're traveling there, please contact your hotel directly before you leave to make sure it is open.  All the hotels in Cancun are back open, and ready for your business.  The beaches are mostly cleaned up now - they've suffered a little erosion, but it's beginning to look like Cancun again.

To view videos and photographs of the aftermath of Emily, as well as get good information about the status of Cancun and the Riviera Maya, you can visit our forums or you can click on these links:

MSNBC Report - MSNBC Report
MSNBC Slide Show - MSNBC CJ Report - CNN Report - CNN Report
CNN Report - CNN Report - USA Today Report - USA Today Report
USA Today Report - Fox News Report - Fox News Report - Fox News Report
Weather Channel Slideshow - BBC Report - BBC Report - CBS News
CBS News - Yahoo! News - NBC Slideshow - PressTelegram
Hurricane Emily Discussion - Beach Conditions - Report from the scene
 Cancun Status - Cozumel Photos - Chankanaab Damage
 Xcaret Park Status - Xel-Ha Park Status

When clicking the above links, make sure to look all around the page they go to - there is a lot of multimedia, videos, and photos there that is in Flash or Java and I can't link to them. 

In other news, August is the last month to see the Whale Sharks at Isla Holbox. After that, they're gone for another year.  Isla Holbox fared reasonably well in the hurricane, all things considered.  Since the eye of the hurricane was south of Cancun, and Isla Holbox is well North, it avoided much of the wrath of Emily.  To read more about the Whale Shark Adventure, click here.

The summer months mean Sea Lice (jellyfish eggs) in Cancun, and stings are no fun. However, you can protect yourself from the stings with Safe Sea. Don't leave home without it.  We just returned from Puerto Vallarta and forgot our Safe Sea.  Boy were we sorry!  The sea was swarming with Jellyfish!

For those of you planning a trip to Cancun soon, check out our last minute deals above, and also don't forget to take a look at Sky Auction.  We just saw a week including airfare at the Mayan Palace go for $142 each!

That's it for now...we'll see you next time at Cancun Discounts!